THE VIRAL AND THE VENERABLE

The burning light of Upanishadic wisdom is not for everyone, they say.

- AVANEESH MISHRA

That's because it's not an attainment of the intellect alone. Rather, an extreme practice of the body-a performing-is what takes you there. But they too come to bathe at the Sangam, those who have thus passed through the mirror. This is where the two meet. India's benighted millions on one side, still immersed in the everyday, bodies so densely packed that you can die from too many people. And those who have already extinguished their old selves-the enigmatic sadhus, a blur of ash-grey and saffron. Inside makeshift tents they sit, ascetics of every kind, rapt in repose or animated discourse, oscillating between the beyond and the bizarre. The scent of fresh roti mixes with incense and chillum smoke in these quarters of the elect. Each one owns a persona non pareil. That has a new cachet, for the ascetic of 2025 has found fame on social media; venerability rides with virality. Mere exotica? Only for those who would voyeurise. These are humans who have found a path to transcend the body, through the body. Each one is a story.

MAHANT RAJGIRI JI

'AMBASSADOR BABA' ROLLS IN